Maria Sharapova fell to 53rd place in the WTA rankings, but is looking at a French Open comeback after nearly a year of recuperation
Maria Sharapova fell to 53rd place in the WTA rankings, but is looking at a French Open comeback after nearly a year of recuperation
Maria Sharapova slid out of the top 50 in the new WTA rankings published on Monday which saw Serena Williams still top of the heap.
Sharapova, who is currently injured, dropped 23 places and now stands 53rd on the computer. The 21-year-old underwent shoulder surgery in October and only recently returned to training, missing a swathe of major tournaments, including the Olympics and the US and Australian Opens.
The fall marks the first time, Sharapova fell below the 50-rank mark since 2003.
Injury-plaguedThe decline started last year in a season plagued by injury. She started out by winning the Australian Open.
u00a0
However, in July after pulling out of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, an MRI scan revealed she had been carrying the injury since April of that year. The injury caused her to withdraw from every tournament thereafter including the US Open, and the Beijing Olympics.
The Russian could not recuperate in time for the 2009 season-opening Australian Open either and her first action in months came at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California in March. She played one doubles match and lost, but pulled out of the singles competition and thereafter from the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida.
However, there is some good news for Sharapova's legions of fans. She is scheduled to make her singles comeback at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome before staging a big comeback at the French Open in May.
Russia's team coach Shamil Tarpishchev, told Sport-Express newspaper website that the blonde is set to grace Roland Garros.
Roland Garros comeback
"I have spoken with Maria Sharapova's father the day before yesterday. He said she is preparing to play at Roland Garros. It is clear Sharapova intends to play on clay. Let's hope that it's the way it'll be," Tarpishchev said.
